Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2026: Report and Final Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-25
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Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth

There is a certain consistency regarding what was stated on Second Stage and on Committee Stage. There is the idea that we want a framework. We want something that works. Everybody accepts that the legislation is necessary. There is a logjam. There are a number of people who were not going to be discharged as wards of court, and nobody wanted to see them left in limbo. It is about making sure that the review can look at all the weaknesses that exist in the assisted decision-making legislation. It is also about ensuring that the discharging process works as well as it possibly can.
I reiterate the absolute necessity of engagement with families and with the person who is in need of support, as well as the wider stakeholders like disability services. What I saw with St. John of God intellectual disability services and the level of engagement involved was great. I appreciate the efforts of the officials from the Department and the Courts Service who were involved in that regard. The Minister of State indicated that there will be a number of events in which they will be involved. That is absolutely necessary. We need to make sure the issues that exist across banking and so on are dealt with. As I said, the really positive thing I got when speaking to the representatives of St. John of God disability services was that while it had been very worried about assisted decision-making at the outset and had thought they would not be able to protect those who needed protection, when the organisation stretched itself and put supports in place, both it and those in its care benefited. We need to see more of that. It is about allowing someone the maximum freedom to be everything they can be.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-25